The present invention relates generally to providing a clean and contaminant free environment for electronic machinery. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus for providing a clean and uncontaminated environment for a computer.
With the proliferation and rapid advancement of computers into business environments, computers, and particularly personal computers and minicomputers are no longer being used in environments in which the atmosphere is tightly controlled with respect to temperature and contaminants. In the past, computers were generally located in so-called computer clean rooms, in which the temperature of the room and the cleanliness of the air within the room were carefully maintained. However, with the advent of small powerful computers, and particularly personal computers, computers are now often found in both office and other environments in which the temperature of the environment may be only generally regulated and in which there is no regulation of the cleanliness of the air within the environment.
That is particularly true in the case of computers used in other than office environments, such as in manufacturing and other areas in which the computers are utilized in environments subject to air contamination and pollution. Often, the air pollution is generated by workers' smoking of cigarettes or other tobacco products which produce particulates which can be particularly damaging to both the circuitry and other components utilized with computers.
In work environments in which the computers are utilized in conjunction with a manufacturing or equipment repairing or preparing facility, even if such computers are located in the office portions of a shared facility, they are still subject to being exposed to air borne contaminants generated by those manufacturing and other service work facilities. Under such conditions, the circuitry and/or peripheral components, such as hard disk drives frequently used with computers, are subject to premature failure. Thus, there is a great need for a small portable device which provides an environment for a personal computer which protects it from such air borne contaminants.
One prior art approach to providing relatively dust-free air to cool electronic equipment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,776 issued on Aug. 13, 1985 to Mammel et al., which discloses an air cleaner which is utilized to clean air before it enters into a room housing the equipment to be cooled. The room air enters the filter at one side of the room, is filtered and then is passed into the room by means of a fan located within the room. The dirty air from the room is exhausted by another fan.
Another prior art approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,784,675, issued Nov. 15, 1988, to Leber et al. The Leber et al. disclosure shows a cabinet controller in which the cabinet or housing is provided with an outside mounted cleaning apparatus for filtering the air entering the housing. The cabinet controller, which can operate automatically to control various parameters within the environment of the cabinet, is designed for use in industries in which the environment is hostile to electric equipment. While both the Mammel et al. and Leber et al. disclosures are designed to provide a clean environment in which to operate sensitive electronic equipment, neither of those two patents disclose an enclosure which incorporates within its confines the air filtration and cleaning systems utilized. Neither of those two references discloses a device which is designed as a portable enclosure or which may house a portable piece of computer equipment.
Other efforts to produce clean environments are also known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,282, issued May 19, 1981 to MacKenzie, U.S. Pat. No. 3,284,148, issued Nov. 8, 1966 to Ramniceanu and Japanese Patent Application No. 59-213438, are all directed to work benches which filter the air before it reaches the enclosed work platform. However, those devices are not designed for use in operating portable electronic equipment and suffer from many of the same disadvantages discussed above in connection with the Leber et al. and Mammel et al. disclosures.
Another prior art attempt to provide a clean environment for use with a television set is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,469,031, issued Sep. 23, 1969, to Setchell, which discloses a combination television set and electronic air cleaner. That device, however, is simply not contemplated to be for use with other electronic circuitry. Rather, it is designed for use specifically with a television receiving set and to take advantage of the fact that television sets have certain of the same electronic components necessarily used with electronic air cleaners.